The Secret to Lasting Happiness: How Gratitude and Joy Transform Your Life

In Likutei Moharan, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov speaks extensively about the greatness and power of joy. Among his many words on the subject, he famously writes (Part II, Torah 78): “There is no despair in the world at all.” How could a Jew, who has the greatest Father in history, ever fall into despair?

He also teaches that when a person merits true joy, God protects him from blemishing his holiness in any way, and through joy, a person’s heart opens to serving his Creator.

Rabbi Nachman told his students: “If you were truly joyful, it would bring great good to the world.” For this reason, he instructed his followers to always be in a state of joy, so they could draw down abundant goodness and blessing to the entire world.

Who Does God Go Out to Greet?

A remarkable teaching from the Sages appears in Derech Eretz Zuta (Chapter 3, Mishnah 2): “The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: If you do My words with joy, My heavenly entourage will go out to guard you on your way, and I Myself will come out to greet you, saying, ‘Come in peace.’”

What Is Joy?

Consider someone who has been learning to drive for a long time and finally takes the driving test. The next day, the instructor tells him he passed, and he immediately goes to get his license. The moment he hears the news, he feels a great joy, born from deep satisfaction after anticipating this moment and finally achieving it.

Similarly, a man who has met his life partner after searching for a long time, will be filled with the joy of fulfillment.

A couple who has waited years to have children and is blessed by God with a son or daughter will feel this powerful joy. The more meaningful the gift, the greater the joy and sense of satisfaction.

Satisfaction and Joy

A person who is satisfied with what he has in life is a happy person.
Conversely, someone who is not satisfied with himself is unhappy. If he looks in the mirror and dislikes what he sees, each glance will bring him sadness. If he is unhappy with his home, every time he enters it, he will feel a pang of discontent.

A parent who expected his children to be more beautiful or more intelligent, and is disappointed, is essentially rejecting what God has given him. Instead of feeling joy over a free and precious gift from the Creator, he experiences renewed sadness every time he sees them.

The same is true for a husband or wife who is not happy with the spouse God gave them — there will be no joy in the relationship. Every disagreement or difference will awaken feelings of dissatisfaction, followed by sadness.

Who Is Truly Happy?

If we look carefully at life, we’ll notice that the happiest people are those who have no sense of entitlement. They don’t believe they “deserve” anything in particular, and therefore everything they receive feels like an undeserved gift, and they rejoice in it. By contrast, unhappy people feel that certain things should be theirs at a certain standard, and when reality falls short, they feel deprived.